Monday, April 28, 2014

In the beginning was...

[Jhn 1:1 NKJV] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[Jhn 1:2 NKJV] He was in the beginning with God.

In the beginning of what? The beginning of time. This also answers the age old question of "Who made God?" He wasn't made. He was always there. So was His son Jesus, the "Word". You see the Trinity here as well, although we won't read about the Holy Spirit until later on in the first chapter of the Gospel of John.

The Word was with God. And the Word was God. If I go to church with my wife, I am not my wife. And yet, we read how the Word was with God, and the Word was God. They are inseparable. We do not worship three gods, we worship a single God who manifests Himself in three distinct ways.

The Jews refer to Deuteronomy 6:4 as "The Shemah", their

[Deu 6:4 NKJV] "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD [is] one!

Jesus Himself called this the greatest commandment.

[Mar 12:28 NKJV] Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"
[Mar 12:29 NKJV] Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments [is]: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.
[Mar 12:30 NKJV] 'And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This [is] the first commandment.
[Mar 12:31 NKJV] "And the second, like [it, is] this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Jesus Himself is demonstrating how he is with God. He is standing in human form, in front of a scribe who asked a very good question, "Which is the first commandment of all?" And Jesus' reply? Deuteronomy 6:4. The LORD is one.

Take a look at the 14th chapter in the Gospel of John.

[Jhn 14:8 NKJV] Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
[Jhn 14:9 NKJV] Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

Knowing Jesus is knowing the Father. Seeing Jesus is seeing the Father.

On a side note, what if I told you nature itself has a model of the Trinity which is present in everything? Consider an atom. An atom consists of protons and neutrons at its core, with an electron orbiting around that core. The three elements make up an atom, and they are quite distinct and serve distinct roles. And bound up in that tri-unity is incredible power.

So where did God come from? He did not come from anywhere, He always was. "In the beginning was..." And what of our universe? God spoke it into existence.

[Gen 1:1 NKJV] In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
[Gen 1:2 NKJV] The earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
[Gen 1:3 NKJV] Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

What if the "earth" refered to in Genesis 1:2 isn't necessarily our planet? What if it refers to a giant mass of unbound protons, neturons, and electrons, without form and void? I'm not saying that is how it happened, but it is a possiblity.

Remember old TVs? When you turned to a channel that did not have a station on it, what did you get? Static. The static was without form and void. Just a chaotic display of random dots and noise.

[Gen 1:3 NKJV] Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

And with a spoken word, God takes all that unordered potential, compresses it to a dot, and unleashes it in one moment with a mighty force of energy science would call the "Big Bang." Spreading outward from its point of origin, the ordered universe stretches outward, and will continue to do so until the day comes that God call it to an end.

[2Pe 3:11 NKJV] Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
[2Pe 3:12 NKJV] looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

By the way, are you ready for the day the universe itself is dissolved, and replaced with a new Heaven and and a new Earth?

[Jhn 1:3 NKJV] All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
[Jhn 1:4 NKJV] In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

We read that "In the Beginning was the Word." And now it says "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." And what does John 14:6 say?
[Jhn 14:6 KJV] Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

[Jhn 1:5 NKJV] And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

We are seeing how God the Father and Jesus are so tightly bound that
they are considered one. If we have a God the Father, do we have a
separate God the Grandfather? No.

[Isa 44:6 KJV] Thus
saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I
[am] the first, and I [am] the last; and beside me [there is] no God.

So
God answers the question of His own existence. He was always there, is
always there, will always be there. Jesus affirms this timeless nature
of God in John 8:

People who worship "Reason" often consider it impossible for there to
be a God. They reject the notion of an eternal being. Right now, scientists are spending $10 billion chasing the Higgs boson particle,
in part to disprove the existence of God. But even if they do find
their particle, are they daring to ask themselves "Where did the
particle come from?"

The Bible answers it in one verse. John 1:1.

Science simply cannot answer the question of beginnings because of their refusal to consider the One who created it all. For all their earthly intelligence, "...the darkness did not comprehend it."

And now that we have seen the deepest questions of science and philosophy answered in a few verses, the amazing happens. We see the eternal Creator of the Universe taking the form of His creation and walking among us.

[Jhn 1:6 NKJV] There was a man sent from God, whose name [was] John.
[Jhn 1:7 NKJV] This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
[Jhn 1:8 NKJV] He was not that Light, but [was sent] to bear witness of that Light.
[Jhn 1:9 NKJV] That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
[Jhn 1:10 NKJV] He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
[Jhn 1:11 NKJV] He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
[Jhn 1:12 NKJV] But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
[Jhn 1:13 NKJV] who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
[Jhn 1:14 NKJV] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is that Word which became flesh and dwelt among us. He is that way, truth, and life. He was there at the foundation of the universe, and will be here after it's extinction. And He became one of us, walked among us, and calls out to us. Jesus is calling you today. Will you trust the creator of the universe with your soul, with your life, with your heart?

[Jhn 1:12 NKJV] But as many as received Him, to them He gave the
right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: